Donna Earhart is a busy woman. She cares for her elderly mom and helps her daughter who currently has 10 children, three of her own and 7 foster children. A planned cruise to Cuba was the getaway she and her husband Paul needed.
One ordinary day in October 2018 she was carrying groceries and pinched her nipple. It hurt for a day or two, but she didn’t think anything of it. A month later as she was doing laundry and kept bumping her breast and aggravating it. Enough was enough, she called to make an appointment with her provider Mary Crecelius. Mary was out at the time, so her office suggested she see Dr. Theresa Cavins.
Dr. Cavins didn’t like how the nipple looked, so a biopsy was conducted. A follow-up appointment was in three weeks. For several days after, she kept checking her patient portal for results, but nothing came through and it was time to leave for Cuba.
When she returned, there still were no results on the portal. Her appointment wasn’t for another week, but she called Dr. Cavins and got in right away.
“There was cancer,” Donna said. “Not seeing the initial results on the portal was a red flag to me, so it kind of prepared me for the news. Dr. Cavins, who is so sweet and compassionate, said if I had time the next day, she wanted to remove the whole nipple area. I said OK.”
To prepare for surgery, an EKG, lab work etc, all had to be done.
“The staff takes the time to walk you to the places you need to be, and that was so special.” Donna said. “I thought it would take a full day getting these tests done, but I was in and out in a half hour. I’ve waited longer than that at other hospitals just for an x-ray. The hospital was absolutely wonderful.”
The cancer was caught early, it was Stage 1. The next stop was to see Dr. Lyss to determine if radiation or chemo treatments would be the next course of action.
“That was a big worry,” Donna said. “I needed to be able to care for my mom, and I knew if I needed chemo treatments, that would be rough.”
“Dr. Lyss is pretty phenomenal,” she said. “He read all my of my charts even before I got there. He spelled out my options, and sent my lab results out to determine what needed to be done.”
Her prayer was answered. Chemo treatments would not be necessary, and she could handle the 16 radiation treatments that would be needed.
“Sometimes, you’re on a path and assume you’re well, and all of a sudden you’re thrown off that path and you don’t even know how you got there. You just have to learn how to deal with it. I’m very blessed.”

To see Donna's video click here.